My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Marlesford’s amendment, which largely reflects a Private Member’s Bill that the House discussed a while ago. It seems an eminently sensible measure and I look forward to a similarly positive and supportive reply from the Minister. My Amendment 22AA, which is grouped with that of my noble friend, deals with a different issue at the other end of the waste scale: it is to do with fly-tipping.
Fly-tipping is the deliberate, planned commission of a criminal act by the illegal dumping of waste. This is a crime which blights rural areas, including the one in which I live; if I therefore have an interest, I am more than happy to declare it. The scale of the situation is scarcely credible. In 2012-13, according to statistics produced by Defra, there were 711,000 incidents, or crimes, at approximately 2,000 per day. I do not believe—and perhaps my noble friends can correct me if I am wrong—that that includes fly-tipping on private land, and private farmland in particular, which is an increasing phenomenon. That is a great deal of criminal activity but, in the same statistics pamphlet that the department has produced, there is an equally startling statistic. In the same period, only 2,200 prosecutions were undertaken. Another way of looking at it is that only crimes committed approximately on the equivalent of one day per year were brought before the courts. The odds are nowhere near sufficient to deter either the one-off or the serial offender.
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There are two clearly related issues to tackle. The first is about investigation and prosecution, and the second is about the severity of the penalties. On the former, police and local authorities must be encouraged to investigate properly and not to take the easy way out, which is all too often to say that these people must be caught in the act. We realise that that is highly unlikely. But this is a crime that uses vehicles—the ultimate traceable tool—and which typically leaves behind a good deal of evidence. I would appreciate to hear from the Minister what efforts are being made to improve the detection rate, which is lamentably lame on this crime.
In their report Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011, the Government stated that they would,
“introduce stronger powers to seize vehicles suspected of involvement in waste crime”.
My Amendment 22AA does exactly that. I would like to support the Government and stiffen their resolution to introduce and, as importantly, to deploy this measure. Could the Minister update the House as to where the Government have got to in their deliberations in bringing forward their own orders? I am only a humble amateur politician, if one can call oneself that in this House. The Government may already have brought forward these regulations, or may be about to do so—or they may want to use my amendment to save them a bit of parliamentary trouble. I am not proud, and I am not concerned how it is done, but I am concerned that it is done.
If these criminals faced the serious prospect of losing their vehicle for committing this offence, it is my contention that we could drastically reduce the prevalence of this extraordinarily common crime. The Government have done a lot of good work in this area, and there has been a welcome reduction in some areas of the commission of this offence. Local authorities tend to react very quickly to clear away the waste, provided that it is not on private land, in which case it is not their responsibility. The police and other bodies, in particular the Environment Agency, are very supportive. The National Fly-tipping
Prevention Group has played an important role in the co-ordination of responses. But now we need a more vigorous response, and we look forward to the Government taking the lead on this issue.